Collapsible bed rail



Nov. 11, 1958 G. BECKWELL COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL Filed Feb. 20, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet 1 GEOQG'E BECEZEZL INVENTOR.

RTZU/QA/EV 11, 1958 G. BECKWELL COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 20, 1957 INVENTOR.

,QTTOQA/EV COLLAPSIBLE BED RAIL George Beckwell, Aurora, 111., assignorto The Cal-Dak fCompany, San Gabriel, Calif., a corporation of CaliorniaApplication February 20, 1957, Serial No. 641,350

3 Claims. (Cl. -331) This invention relates to portable bed rails, andmore particularly to bed rails which may be folded into a compactposition, whereby they may be more easily transported or stored.

The use of a foldable or collapsible bed rail has several advantages.They are used especially on large or adult size beds to prevent youngchildren from falling out of bed. This for the reason that this practiceis generally preferred to the expensive practice of purchasing so calledyouth beds which are used only temporarily because they are longer andwider than cribs but lower than adult size beds. It is also advantageousto use collapsible bed rails for small children when travelling orstaying over night at a dwelling not provided with youth beds, but onlyprovided with adult size beds.

However, whether or not portable bed rails are employed to avoid the useof yout beds for small children or while traveling, since the bed railis a relatively temporary expedient it is desirable to make portable bedrails collapsible in order that they may be more compact when folded orcollapsed and thereby being more easily transported and stored.

To the present time many collapsible bed rails comprise a frame memberand two legs hinged at the bottom of the frame member to swing outwardlyand downwardly of it in parallel vertical planes. The two legs are theninserted between a mattress and a mattress support such as a set ofboxed springs. However, the legs tend to slip outwardly from the spacebetween the mattress and mattress support. This means that the framemember will collapse toward the side of the bed. Locking means then mustbe provided to prevent the collapse of the frame member. Such lockingmeans are of course undesirable both because they are troublesome tooperate and because they add to the cost of a portable bed rail.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a collapsible bedrail having two support legs requiring no means to lock them in positionfor stability while the bed rail is in use.

The present invention achieves this object and overcomes this and otherdisadvantages of the prior art by providing a collapsible bed rail foruse with a bed having a mattress covered with a selected material and anunderlying support for the mattress, the bed rail including a framemember to extend along the side of the bed, the frame member having twodownwardly vertically extending mounting means, and two legs extendingin a horizontal plane from the position of each of the mounting means,the mounting means including first means for both rotatably connectingthe legs to the frame member and for preventing movement of the legs outof the horizontal plane, whereby the legs may be rotated to a positionperpendicular to a straight line extending through each of the mountingmeans, and subsequently inserted between the mattress and support tomaintain the frame member in an appropriate position along the side ofthe bed. It is thus seen that no locking means need be provided for therotatable legs of the bed rail of the present invention because theyrotate 2,859,454 Patented Nov. 11, 1958 "ice in a horizontal plane. Thismeans that the frame member cannot collapse toward the side of the bed.Furthermore, means are additionally provided to prevent any rotationalmovement of the legs in a horizontal plane.

For example, the mounting means described above mayinclude stop means toprevent rotation of the legs beyond two extreme positions, one of theextreme positions being between each of the mounting means on thestraight line extending through them, and the other of 'the extremepositions being perpendicular to the straight line.

In addition, enlargement means may be additionally provided on the legsboth to prevent them from sliding outwardly between the mattress andsupport and to prevent substantial rotational movement thereof relativeto the frame member.

According to another feature of the invention the second. meansdescribed above may have a relatively high coeflicient of friction withthe mattress covering material provided on the legs to prevent bothrotational and translational movement thereof between the mattress andsupport.

According to an aspect of the invention, preferably the above-describedsecond means includes specifically a rubber cap to fit over each end ofeach corresponding leg.

Actually in this case, the pair of rubber caps to fit over It is to benoted further that it is an advantage of the invention that the bed railof the invention is mechanically stable while in use but is just ascompact as collapsible bed rails of the prior art in view of the factthat theheight of the frame member is substantially the same 1n eithercase.

The above described and other objects and advantages of the presentinvention will be better understood when considered with the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings made apart of this specification, wherein several embodiments are illustratedby way of example. The device of the present invention is by no meanslimited to the specific embodiments illustrated in the drawings sincethey are shown merely for purposes of description.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a mattress and a set of boxed springswith a pair of bed rails of the present invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the bed rails;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the bed rail shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a broken away sectional view taken on the line 44 shown inFig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is an exploded view of the structure shown in Fig. 4.

In the drawing in Fig. 1 a bed 10 is shown comprising a mattress 12 anda set of boxed springs 14, with legs 16 mounted thereon. A pair of bedrails 18 and 20 constructed in accordance with the present invention areprovided, bed rail 18 comprising a frame member 22 having mounting means24 and 25 at its lower end to rotatably mount a pair of legs 26 and 28to fit between the mattress 12 and set of boxed springs 14. Frame member22 comprises simply an inverted U-shaped member 30 made out of a hollowtube with a hollow tubular brace 32 extending across and connected toeach leg of the U-shaped member 30.

As shown in Fig. 2, rubber caps 34 and 36 are cupped over the ends ofbed rail legs 26 and 28, respectively, both to provide enlargement meansto prevent the bed rail 10 --from slipping outwardly'from the spacebetween mattress 12'and set of boxed springs 14, and to provide a highfriction surface for the cloths covering both mattress 12 and set ofboxed springs 14. It is to be noted from Fig. 2 that legs 26 and 28 maybe rotated to positions indicated by dotted lines 38 and 40 respectivelyoutlining the shapes of rubber caps 34 and 36 when legs are rotated to aposition pointing toward each other in-line with a straight line throughmounting means 24.

From Fig. 3 it can be seen that the ends of brace 32 are fixed to thelegs of the U-shaped member 30 by means of rivets '42.

U-shaped member 30, brace 32, rivet 42 and leg 23 are shown in Fig. 4.Member 30 is provided with a washer-like member 44 fixed to the end ofU-shaped member 30 to enclose a notched disc 46 contained inside theinterior of member 30. Disc 46 is also fixed to member 30 to providestop means for a wedge shaped member 48 fixed to the end of leg 28. Ascan be seen from both Figs. 4 and 6, leg 28 is tapered at 50 at itsupper end. At the end of the taper 50, wedge-shaped member 48'is fixedthereto to slide in a horizontal plane from the position shown in Fig.to a position 90 to the right shown in Fig. 5. Apertured disc or ring 44with disc 46 provides stop means to prevent vertical movement of leg 28with respect to frame member 22,

Disc 46 is notched at 52 as shown in Fig. 6 to permit rotationalmovement of wedge-shaped member 48 fixed to the end of leg 28. Notch 52thus provides stop means to prevent rotation of leg 28 from its extremeposition shown in Fig. 2 to the extreme position denoted by dotted lines40 of rubber cap 36.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is to be noted that the invention is not limited theretosince the scope of the invention is not defined thereby but only definedin the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A collapsible bed rail for use with a bed having a mattress and amaterial-covered support for said mattress, the said bed railcomprising: a frame member to extend only vertically along the side of abed and of suflicient height to retain a body rolling outwardly of abed; two legs mounted on said frame member that are rotationably movableabout parallel axes in a substantially horizontal plane, said legshaving lengths less than half the distance between their rotationalaxes, said legs being movable to a position perpendicular to the planeof said frame member and being further rotatably movable to a compactposition extending towards each other from their respective axes ofrotation lengthwise of said frame member and enlarged friction means onthe end of each of said movable legs, to frictionally resist thewithdrawal of said legs from the space between said mattress and thesaid mattress support.

2. The collapsible bed rail claimed in claim 1 in which stop means areprovided to prevent rotational movement of the leg members beyond agiven fixed position in perpendicular alignment with the plane of theframe member.

3. The collapsible bed rail claimed in claim 1 in which the enlargedfriction means provided to resist withdrawal of the legs from betweenthe mattress and the mattress support are rubber caps mounted on theends of the said movable legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS930,554 Moody Aug. 10, 1909 1,656,352 Groll Jan. 17, 1928 1,915,774Busch June 27, 1933 2,508,688 Rossi May 23, 1950 2,555,228 Evers May 29,1951 2,602,171 Good July 8, 1952

